1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to food processing equipment, and more specifically to electric drink mixers, particularly those used to make milkshakes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Known milkshake mixers currently in use consist basically of an electric motor mounted on a stand, with a downwardly-dependent rotating shaft to which is affixed at least one and typically two disk-shaped mixing blades (the upper of which is usually press-fit onto the shaft, while the lower blade is typically screwed on to the bottom of the shaft). These mixing blades have a rippled edge, which creates turbulence as they rotate, thereby mixing the milk, ice cream and other ingredients within the milkshake canister.
However, the amount of turbulence produced by these blades of the prior art is insufficient to do either a rapid or thorough job of blending the milk and chunks of ice cream which are the ingredients of most milkshakes. As a result, an attendant must continually manipulate the milkshake canister up and down and back and forth relative to the rotating shaft and blades in order to achieve a thorough mixing of the ingredients. When hard ice cream is used, this process can take five or six minutes or more, during which time the attendant is occupied with this procedure and therefore not free to deal with other customers or their orders. Despite this aggravating and time-consuming process, the end result is often a milkshake still containing lumps of ice cream, and if the ice cream contained bits of ice to begin with (as is not uncommon), these bits of ice are also still present in the final product.